Post match: Crystal Palace v Liverpool (EPL 23/01/22 14:00)

We’ll have to be on our toes next few games…

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At 2-0 up they’re thinking we’ve pissed this and then drop down a gear start hitting sloppy passes and reduce the tempo. How can we go from looking world beaters to a lower than average team. A good three points but a diabolical last hour of football. Only one man in the frame for MOM big Allison. The best game of his career for us.

I must be the only one who thought it was a stonewall penalty when it happened. Think @ILLOK said that he changed direction to manufacture the collision, but it looked to me that he realised where the ball was going and adjusted his positioning accordingly. He’s often gotten to that kind of loose ball fast enough for it to be quite realistic that he could have gotten it if not for the complete lack of interest in playing the ball that the keeper had.

If Alisson had done that, I would be shitting myself about giving a penalty like that away. And they’ve been given multiple times against us as well.

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Every year under Klopp we’re shit in January/early Feb. At least we’re getting results this season. Make it to mid-Feb within touching distance and the run in will be interesting.

monty python GIF

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Pen was harsh…seen them not given.
… but anywhere else on the pitch and that’s a foul… and I reckon its the very least VAR owes us over the season.
Hendo terrible again
Ali…absolutely phenomenal.

3 points…capitalising on a rare City slip up… that’s all we can really do.

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Where’s the poll? I want to give my 3 votes to Mr Alisson Becker.

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True.

That’s why I wanted Jota to be moved to the middle, with Bobby dropping deeper. We failed in the second half to do basic passing. Extra body in midfield from Bobby at tip of diamond could have helped, and allowed Jota to be on the shoulder of the last defender.

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Not sure why general consensus is that wasn’t a pen. Jota’s touch wasn’t what he expected so he initially went to his right then changed to follow the ball. He didn’t initiate contact. The keeper then slammed into him. Whether Jota would have got the ball or not is not the point in the rules, point is he was taken out thus its a foul and a pen.

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Illok’s point is sound and I get it, but I also think that if you slide in and miss the ball, even as a keeper, you dont get to get away with it if there is a resulting collision that takes someone out.

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Exactly. Did the keeper impede him unlawfully?

Anyway, I agree with the thought that our second should have been ruled out for offside by Firmino. When I saw it I thought that would be ruled offside, since he was actively trying to play the ball and was just too short. Definitely interfering with play there.

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Alisson was quality today as were Robbo’s deliveries.

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I think his point would be sound if not for the fact that Jota’s movement quite clearly follows the path of the ball, as @wyld.at.hrt has pointed out.

But like you said, regardless, you don’t get to take out a player like that without conceding a penalty.

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We had perhaps the best 30 minutes all season in first half. We were absolutely flying. Palace a good team though, Viera doing better than I thought he would. They are a dangerous team. You’d like a bit more control of game in second half, they could have won that on another day, but that’s why we spent big money on Allison, he was so good today.

The penalty is a funny one. Keeper slides right into Jota without getting the ball, takes him out very clumsily. If he touches the ball at all, it’s great save. Without touching ball, it’s a question of if Jota can still catch it, and I think he had a chance to keep it in play. It’s a very soft penalty, and I’d probably feel same about it if given against us. Keeper has to touch the ball, he didn’t, and left it in the refs hand. You’ll get some of those, and you won’t get some others, but nobody to blame but the palace goalie for leaving it in refs hands.

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We’re not able to take care of the ball under pressure anywhere near as well as most other top teams. It’s just not what we’re built on, and in most situations where we’re able to play through pressure it’s often about popping it into space rather than with a city like manipulation of the ball under pressure. What games like today show, I think, is how important Mane and Salah’s pace is to accomplish that.

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Kevin was our „friend“ today.
For me, it was no pen. Jota moved towards their goalie, not the other way around

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@Draexnael

Therein lies the problem. Our current midfield has no one that can keep or pass the ball under immense pressure. Jones can’t do it consistently as seen in one point of the match. Hendo is probably the worst at this.

That leaves you with Fabinho. No wonder our current midfield always crumbled at the first sign of harassment.

However, with Thiago in, we have someone to do the keeping or passing the ball under immense pressure. Heck, he can even use that to relieve pressure.

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Yeah that’s how I’d sum it up, was absolutely loving us in the first 30.

End of the day it was 3-1 not 3-2 so the penalty doesn’t really matter whatever Sky want to say.

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I feel like sometimes it’s hard for a fan to watch, but we’re rather methodical about it, except when our passing just starts falling to pieces. You can see what the ideas are, the spaces that the ball gets played into for someone to run onto and carry it out to start an attack, but very often, like with the rest of our game when not under pressure, we don’t seem to execute the passing as well as we did in the two trophy-winning seasons we’ve had.

You often see this even with Mané and Salah, just that they are better equipped to increase the probabilities of us keeping the ball in play.

Why not, anywhere on the pitch it is a foul, why not in the box?

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I reckon we should buy them both in the summer…

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